


honey

by kihyuks



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Confessions, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Holding Hands, M/M, Roommates, petnames
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:48:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24282334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kihyuks/pseuds/kihyuks
Summary: hoseok starts calling jooheon honey and it affects jooheon far more than it should. he quickly realises hemightjust have a crush on his roommate.
Relationships: Lee Hoseok | Wonho/Lee Jooheon
Comments: 5
Kudos: 71





	honey

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yikeslikenikes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yikeslikenikes/gifts).



> to ela: happy birthday!!! i have no idea if you even rmbr sending me the tweet that loosely inspired this bc it was literally forever ago but HJDJF i hope you enjoy!!

The first time it happens Jooheon thinks he just misheard Hoseok. 

It’s a Saturday morning, Jooheon’s favourite day of the week, because Saturday means a day of doing absolutely zilch, but without the dread of going back to work because tomorrow is still another day to do nothing. Nothing can ever beat a Saturday. 

Jooheon stumbles into the kitchen where he’s met with Hoseok sitting at the table, sipping a mug of what could be tea or coffee, or maybe even hot chocolate, in fact, Jooheon isn’t sure which, doing something on his phone. As soon as Jooheon enters the room, though, Hoseok looks up at him and gives him a wide smile, one that makes Jooheon’s heart flutter, and says, “Good morning, honey.”

“Good morning,” Jooheon replies. He turns on the kettle even though it’s probably only just been boiled judging by the steam coming from Hoseok’s mug and then turns to the cupboard to look for some food that requires absolutely no effort on his part.

Then, his barely awake brain finally processes the words that had left Hoseok’s mouth. The first two words were normal, clearly. Just how one person greets another during the morning. Nothing unusual about that. It was the word that followed that makes Jooheon’s eyes bulge and the bag of rice he’d been holding to see what was behind it in the cupboard to fall to the floor. 

“You okay?” Hoseok asks. 

No, Jooheon is not okay. He couldn’t be further from okay. But he hums an agreement anyway and picks up the fallen bag. “I’m clumsy this morning.”

As Jooheon rifles through the cupboard for god knows what because he’s well aware he already finished off all of their snacks two days after going shopping, his mind can’t stop playing Hoseok’s words over and over again in his mind.  _ Honey, honey, honey. _

But surely Hoseok has no reason to be calling him honey. No reason at all. Jooheon’s name is close to honey, especially when it’s extended affectionately to Jooheonie, which Hoseok does often, so he must’ve just misheard Hoseok.

Yes, that must be it. Jooheon misheard his own name as honey.

Maybe it’s because he keeps having dreams about Hoseok where they’re just doing the normal things in their day, but for some reason they’re dating. 

But there’s no way Jooheon has a crush on his roommate. That’s a recipe for disaster. 

Jooheon has to dig through three different cupboards before he comes across a bag of cheese balls that he had no idea they still had and pulls them out with a grin. “That’s breakfast sorted.” He turns to show Hoseok his discovery and Hoseok rolls his eyes, but smiles.

“One day I’ll get you cooking yourself food.”

“One day,” Jooheon agrees, but he’s not sure he believes it. He can cook the basic meals like pasta, rice, etc. but anything more than that he just doesn’t care to learn. 

The kettle clicks off to indicate that it’s finished boiling and Jooheon pours himself a mug of instant coffee to wake himself up a bit. 

He sits down at the table opposite Hoseok and eats his makeshift breakfast while Hoseok updates him about the latest things on the news so Jooheon doesn’t have to make the effort of reading it himself. 

* * *

The second time it happens Jooheon thinks Hoseok must’ve just misspoke.

The smell of food hits Jooheon as soon as he walks through the door of the flat. He pauses for a moment to allow the smell to drift through him. He can’t identify the smell, but whatever it is, it smells damn good. Jooheon takes off his shoes in a rush and then follows the smell into the kitchen (which he should’ve guessed, really) where he finds the entire table set up with two people’s worth of food, a glass of wine in front of each seat, and Hoseok sitting in one of the seats smiling at Jooheon. “Hey.”

Jooheon stares between the food at the table and Hoseok’s face, unblinking. “What did you do all this for?”

“For you, silly.”

Jooheon blanches. Hoseok did all of this for  _ him _ ? “What did I do to deserve it?” Jooheon finally takes a seat at the table instead of standing dumbly in the doorway. 

“For being you.” Hoseok wears a sincere smile as he says it and Jooheon feels his heart soar.

“Thank you, Hoseok.” Jooheon takes the first bite of the dish and it tastes just as good as it looks. 

Then, when Jooheon still has a mouth full of food, Hoseok says, “So, how was work, honey?”

Jooheon splutters and chokes. He coughs loudly, thumping his own chest, ignoring Hoseok’s worried eyes across the table as he reaches out for him, but then decides against it. 

When Jooheon recovers, he tries to play it off. “A bit of chicken got stuck.”

“You have to be more careful,” Hoseok advises, and it doesn’t seem like he thinks anything of Jooheon’s sudden coughing fit. 

“I will be. Promise.” Jooheon takes another bite, a smaller one this time. He can’t help but think about Hoseok calling him honey again. Except, there’s no way he did. Jooheon misheard him the first time, he’s sure of it, and this time Hoseok spoke with food in his mouth, so it could’ve easily come out wrong when he said ‘Jooheonie’. That’s the explanation he sticks to for the sake of his heart. 

Only then does Jooheon realise that he never answered Hoseok’s question. “Oh, I forgot to answer, but work was okay. Just the usual. Changkyun got his hand stuck behind a radiator.”

Hoseok laughs, probably at the image of Changkyun with his hand behind a radiator, and Jooheon has to admit it is quite funny. “How did he even manage that?”

So, Jooheon recounts the very long and very detailed story of Changkyun getting his hand stuck down the back of the radiator, but even as he tells it, his mind is mostly focused on the way Hoseok smiles at him as he speaks.

* * *

By the third time it happens Jooheon realises that maybe this is just Hoseok’s nickname for him now.

Jooheon pulls his headphones out when he hears a knock on his bedroom door. “Come in.”

Hoseok leans his head around the door frame to look at Jooheon. “Want to come walk Kkukung with me?”

“Yeah, sure. Let me get my coat and shoes on.”

After Jooheon does exactly that, Jooheon and Hoseok step out into the cold air outside, Kkukung following obediently behind them. Jooheon smiles down at him then shakes his head in disbelief. “I still can’t believe Changkyun named his dog after himself.”

See, Kkukung isn’t Hoseok and Jooheon’s dog, he’s actually Changkyun and Kihyun’s dog. The two of them went away for a week, and so Hoseok and Jooheon have been tasked with taking care of Kkukung for a week. It’s not really a complicated task, it’s actually one that the two of them are more than willing to take on, and Jooheon finds himself wanting to get a pet with Hoseok more and more the longer Kkukung is with them. 

“I would say I’m surprised Kihyun let him,” Hoseok comments, “but I’m really not. He’s whipped.”

Jooheon laughs, but only because it’s true. “He really is.”

As they walk down the streets and towards the park, Jooheon drifts off into a daydream about a future with Hoseok, one where they live in a small little house together, with a bunch of cats, and they’ve been dating for years, calling each other soulmates. It’s a completely idealised future, but it’s one that Jooheon can’t help but dream about. 

He doesn’t even know if he has a crush on Hoseok.

(He does. He’s in denial.)

Then, in all of his distraction, Jooheon trips over a branch on the ground that he doesn’t notice. He would’ve faceplanted to the floor, but Hoseok thankfully catches him and saves him from the embarrassment. 

“Be careful, honey,” he scolds.

And there’s that pet name once again, the one Jooheon has been so sure is just him mishearing, or Hoseok misspeaking, but after hearing it for the third time, he knows that it’s neither of those things. Hoseok really  _ is _ calling him honey. 

“I’m clumsy recently, huh?” Jooheon tries to joke, but even to his own ears it sounds strained.

Hoseok doesn’t question him and their walk continues in silence. 

All that goes through Jooheon’s mind the whole time is:  _ honey, honey, honey. _

* * *

More instances of Hoseok calling Jooheon honey happen as time passes, and Jooheon’s confusion about his feelings for Hoseok only grows.

It all comes to a head one night when Jooheon is struggling to fall asleep, and he doesn’t want to go bother Hoseok in case he’s already sleeping himself, and so he’s left alone in the dark with his own thoughts. 

Everything’s perfect for him to fall asleep. It’s completely dark in his room, other than the tiny sliver of light that manages to sneak through the top of his curtains, and there’s no sounds to be heard other than the quiet whirr of the fridge in the other room. But instead of that whirr keeping him awake, Jooheon finds that it relaxes him. There’s no noise outside or anything keeping him awake like that. He hasn’t had any caffeine all day, and he didn’t wake up particularly late.

And yet, Jooheon can’t fall asleep.

Hoseok is the first thing that comes to his mind as he lies there, eyes focused on the ceiling above him (not that he can really see the ceiling because it’s so dark), duvet pulled up to his chin. 

Hoseok is always the first thing on Jooheon’s mind nowadays. He wakes up in the morning, and then the last thing he thinks about before he falls asleep.

But is that just normal feelings for Hoseok? They spend a lot of their time together as they’re roommates, so of course Jooheon’s going to think about Hoseok a lot. They’ve been through so much together, too, in the year they’ve been roommates, so it only makes sense. 

And yet, Jooheon’s not so sure if that’s the reason why or not. (And maybe he’s a little in denial.)

Jooheon’s never been sure what his sexuality is. He’s never really given it much thought, to be honest. He’s always just thought that when he needs to know, he’ll know. 

And well, it hasn’t really worked out that way, but he keeps thinking about it now that everything with Hoseok is happening. 

Oh, Hoseok. Jooheon likes Hoseok so much, but is it platonic? Maybe Hoseok’s just his best friend. 

Jooheon groans. Why is this shit so hard to figure out? If only someone could just tell Jooheon all of the things he wants to know without him having to think over it and try and figure it out himself, that’d be ideal. 

But, sadly, that’s just not how life works. Jooheon has to figure these things out all on his own. 

Jooheon knows he’s not going to figure everything out tonight - his sexuality, what he feels for Hoseok, what to  _ do _ \- but that doesn’t stop him from thinking about it. 

He thinks, and thinks, and thinks, all the way up until his mind finally stops buzzing and lets him fall asleep. 

* * *

Jooheon’s going to tell Hoseok today. Tell Hoseok what, he’s not sure. But he’s going to tell Hoseok  _ something _ . Something about how he’s been feeling, everything he’s been thinking about, how confused he is. He can’t figure things out on his own, he knows that, and things are only going to feel better for him if he finally talks to Hoseok about the way he’s been feeling. 

Maybe Hoseok will feel the same and they can explore their feelings for each other, try a relationship, all those good things. Or maybe Hoseok will tell Jooheon he just sees him as a friend, and although Jooheon would feel sad about that (he’s slowly accepting that yes, he probably does have some romantic feelings for Hoseok), he’d at least have got it off his chest and be able to move on. 

But oh, how he hopes it’ll be the former. 

Jooheon doesn’t know how he’s going to tell Hoseok about everything he’s been thinking about recently, or when he’s going to do it exactly, but they’re going out to dinner soon and so Jooheon figures he’ll say something during their dinner. If he gets some alcohol in him, then he’s sure he’ll find the confidence to talk about it.

That’s his plan, anyway. 

Jooheon checks himself over in the mirror once more. He’d tried harder than he usually does to make himself look good tonight. Sure, Jooheon’s quite conscious of his appearance and likes to put effort into how he looks, but he’d gone the extra mile tonight. Maybe it’s because he wants to impress Hoseok, but who’s to say, really. 

Satisfied that he looks good, Jooheon heads out of his room and into the living room where he finds Hoseok waiting for him. “Ready to go?” Hoseok asks without looking at Jooheon. 

“Yeah.”

Hoseok finally stands and turns to look at Jooheon and his jaw drops ever so slightly. “Damn,” he says lowly.

Jooheon doesn’t know what exactly that means, but a blush comes to his face anyway. 

A ping from Hoseok’s phone draws his attention away from Jooheon and he checks it quickly. “The taxi just got here. Perfect timing.”

Together, they leave their flat to get into their taxi. Hoseok gives the address to the driver just to double check he’d input the right one (because he’s cautious like that) and then the driver starts up the car to take them to the restaurant they’d picked out, a sushi restaurant that Hoseok’s coworkers had been raving about for weeks. 

“Are you excited?” Hoseok asks. 

“Of course,” Jooheon answers. Any time he gets to spend with Hoseok he’ll always be excited for. “I hope everyone was right about the food here.”

“I trust them. It’ll be good food. You like Japanese food, anyway, don’t you?”

Jooheon does, but it shocks him, for some reason, that Hoseok would remember such a detail. It always shocks him, really, when Hoseok remembers things about him, because it means that Hoseok actually listens to what Jooheon has to say. “Yeah, I love Japanese food.”

“That’s why I picked this place.”

Jooheon turns to look at Hoseok, eyebrows furrowed. “I thought you said your coworkers haven’t stopped talking about it?”

Hoseok gives a sheepish smile. “I exaggerated a bit. I asked them for the best Japanese restaurant in town and they said you can’t beat this one.”

Jooheon’s heart beats wildly in his chest at the admission. Hoseok went out of his way to find a restaurant just for Jooheon? That small sliver of hope he had that maybe Hoseok might feel the same way as he does grows just a little bit. 

The drive to the restaurant doesn't take too long, so soon enough they’re seated in the restaurant. It’s surprisingly empty for a Friday evening, so the waiter takes their order fairly quickly and then they’re left alone in their secluded corner of the restaurant. 

“I’m so excited for this ramen,” Hoseok says, licking his lips. 

Jooheon smiles. “Why am I not surprised you ordered ramen?”

“Come on, you know the way to judge whether a restaurant is good or not is off the quality of their ramen.”

Jooheon isn’t sure that’s a universal system of judging restaurants and more a Hoseok system, but he lets Hoseok have his ramen judging system. “I really hope this food is good.”

Hoseok’s eyes scan around the rest of the room. “I mean, everything  _ looks _ good.”

“Looks and taste don’t always align.”

“Unfortunate, that is.”

The waiter appears again with their drinks - a pint of beer for Jooheon and a Coke for Hoseok - and then disappears once again after they thank him. Jooheon takes a sip of his beer and hums an approval. “This is good.”

Hoseok takes a sip of his drink, too. “I’d say the same, but I don’t think Coke tastes any different between different places.”

“Nah, it’s way better in some places than others,” Jooheon counters. 

“You’re joking me. No way you believe that.”

They get into a discussion about whether or not Coke tastes the same regardless of where you buy it and it continues up until their meals are brought over to them.

“Thank you,” Jooheon says as the waiter places his dish down in front of him. Unlike Hoseok, Jooheon had opted to try their tempura. He wastes no time in digging into his tempura and the flavours that explode over his tongue only prompt Jooheon to take another bite. 

He realises that he hasn’t said a thing, only sat there and ate his food as quickly as possible, when he sees Hoseok looking at him, amused. “I guess it’s good then.”

“ _ So _ good. We have to come back here and try more of their food. I don’t want to eat anything else but this for the rest of my life.”

“We’ll come back,” Hoseok promises. “I’ll treat you this time, too.”

Jooheon shoots a glare at Hoseok. “You paid for the last meal.”

“And I’m paying for this one,” Hoseok insists. He holds up a finger when Jooheon goes to speak again. “No arguing. I’m paying.”

The bill hasn’t even come and they’re already arguing over who’s going to pay. How typical of them. 

“Is your ramen good?” Jooheon asks. “How does it rank on the ramen scale?”

“It’s amazing, thanks. I’m not sure it’s top tier ramen, though, but it’s pretty high up. I’ll give this restaurant an A.”

Jooheon laughs. “I’m sure they’ll be pleased to know they get an A on ramen quality.”

“I told you,” Hoseok says, “it’s all about how good their ramen is. That’s the most important factor to consider.”

“How does the ramen I make you rank?” Jooheon decides to ask, because now he’s curious about his ranking compared to all these wonderful restaurants he knows Hoseok has visited throughout his life. 

“Well, you make packet ramen, which isn’t great on the ramen ranking,” Hoseok says, “but because it’s you I’ll give you an A, too.”

“An A for effort. Sweet.”

They finish off their meals, order themselves some dessert and make their way back home, and the whole time Jooheon can’t stop smiling and laughing. He loves spending time with Hoseok.

It’s only when he’s lying down in his bed, ready to get some sleep, that he realises he forgot all about talking to Hoseok about his feelings. 

Jooheon groans. It would’ve been perfect to do it today, but it completely slipped his mind because he’d been too in the moment of having fun with Hoseok, and now he has to find the courage once again to talk about it. 

But even if he didn’t manage to talk about what he’d been planning to talk about, at least Jooheon enjoyed himself. That’s the most important thing, he figures. 

* * *

Jooheon doesn’t tell Hoseok the next day, or the next, or even the one after. In fact, a whole week passes since Jooheon made the decision to talk to Hoseok and somehow he hasn’t even managed to find a chance to tell him, let alone build the courage to actually say something.

So, Jooheon resigns himself to never discussing it with Hoseok (even though he knows he needs to) because he’s too much of a coward to ever do it. 

And because life works in funny ways, as soon as Jooheon makes this decision, he’s given the perfect opportunity to tell Hoseok how he feels, and so in a moment of bravery, Jooheon decides to take it. 

“Um, Hoseok?” he says quietly as he walks up to the sofa that Hoseok’s sitting on in their living room. Jooheon feels slightly guilty interrupting him, but Hoseok’s only scrolling through his phone so he figures he can’t be doing anything too important that would warrant him telling Jooheon to wait until he’s done resulting in Jooheon losing all of the confidence he’s built up.

Hoseok locks his phone and looks up at Jooheon giving him his full attention. “What’s up?”

“Uh, well, can we talk?”

Hoseok frowns, because he probably has no idea what Jooheon is thinking about talking to him about, but he nods anyway. “Sure. Sit down. Do you want me to get you a glass of water? You look a little pale.”

“No, it’s okay, I’m fine.” Jooheon feels nauseous, to be honest. He can’t believe he’s really doing this. 

A silence passes over them. 

“Honey, what’s going on? You’re scaring me.”

The nickname, the one that started all of this and made Jooheon realise how he’s feelings, brings Jooheon back to reality. He takes a deep breath and then says, “I was thinking a lot about things and I don’t really know my sexuality or anything but I’m pretty sure that I like you and I don’t really know what to do about it. I’ve never liked anyone this much before and keeping it inside isn’t helping me so I wanted to tell you even if you don’t feel the same and just want to be friends that’s okay and I’m scared as hell right now and I’ve been trying to tell you for, like, a week and I couldn’t get the words out and yeah. I like you. Okay. Yeah.” It all comes out in a rush, and Jooheon doesn’t realise he’s crying until he finishes speaking. His face is wet and snotty and he probably looks horrific right now, so Jooheon can’t even bring himself to look at Hoseok. 

Hoseok doesn’t reply for a while, but Jooheon isn’t surprised. He did just unload a lot on him all at once, so he probably needs time to process. But as the silence stretches on, Jooheon starts to panic a bit. 

He finally looks up and sees that Hoseok has a pretty pink blush on his cheeks and that he also looks like he’s lost in thought. 

“Hoseok?” Jooheon prompts. 

Hoseok physically shakes himself out of his thoughts (it’s adorable) and says, “I’m processing. How about we order pizza and watch a movie?”

Jooheon obviously must show his disappointment on his face, because Hoseok is quick to add, “I don’t think anything bad or anything, I just need to think, yeah?”

Jooheon isn’t convinced, but he doesn’t argue. Hoseok orders them a pizza and puts on Your Name, his favourite movie, and the two settle down to watch it. 

* * *

Jooheon’s drifting off to sleep when the sound of the TV suddenly stops. He looks up and realises that it’s been paused, and then he looks over to see Hoseok looking at him. 

Hoseok takes Jooheon’s hand and squeezes it. “I really like you,” is the first thing he says and the last thing Jooheon expected.

He’d been so convinced that Hoseok was going to reject him.

“You do?” Jooheon asks in a small voice.

“I do. I thought you were, like, aromantic or something because you’ve never shown interest in anyone, so I assumed I had no chance,” Hoseok explains. “We’re dummies, aren’t we?”

Jooheon laughs, because the whole thing is so ridiculous. If only he’d said something, or Hoseok had said something, he wouldn’t have had to worry about this for so long. “So, like, are we boyfriends now, or what?”

“Kiss me, and then we’ll be boyfriends.”

Jooheon closes the short distance between them to press a soft kiss to Hoseok’s cheek, and then he pulls back and giggles, his free hand over his mouth, because he can’t believe he just did that. 

“You’re adorable, honey,” Hoseok says and squeezes Jooheon’s hand once again.

“Where did that nickname come from, by the way?” Jooheon asks, because he’s been wondering for so long what started it.

“Oh, I mispronounced your name once, but it was cute so I kept doing it.”

Jooheon rolls his eyes. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

“I do my best.”

This time, Hoseok leans over to plant his own kiss on Jooheon’s forehead, which makes both of them go bright red. 

“I feel like I’m twelve again,” Jooheon says shyly.

“Me too.” Hoseok lets go of Jooheon’s hand, and Jooheon goes to protest, but instead Hoseok pulls Jooheon to his side so that Jooheon’s head rests on his shoulder and his arm is wrapped around Jooheon. “This okay?”

“More than okay.”

Hoseok presses play on the movie again, but Jooheon can’t focus on it now. All he can think about is that the man he likes likes him back.

Jooheon buries his face into Hoseok’s shoulder and smiles. He’s so,  _ so _ happy. 


End file.
